Mark Mason’s novels have been praised as "the natural voice of 'everybloke'". His non-fiction includes The Importance of Being Trivial and Walk the Lines, his account of walking the entire London Underground system overground (published by Random House). Follow Mark on Twitter.

The problem with the new Tintin film: we don't even get to see Daniel Craig in a leotard

A new trailer has been released for Steven Spielberg’s Tintin movie, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The film, starring Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, has been shot in motion capture – or, if you want to be down with the geeks, “mo-cap”. This is where real actors are filmed with ACCs (Awfully Clever Cameras), then their movements translated by computer to produce what looks like an animated film. It does make for very realistic animation – but I don’t think it should be done with famous actors.

If Daniel Craig’s playing a part (here it’s Red Rackham, a pirate), then I want to see Daniel Craig playing that part. Every woman I have ever met who has expressed an opinion on Daniel Craig would agree with me. He has charisma, charm, the magic star quality that makes you want to look at him. So why go to the bother of filming that star quality, then covering it up with lots of techno-wizardry?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying animation is wrong, or that mo-cap doesn't work. As you can see in the trailer, the results are stunning. The movements of Thomson and Thompson (yes, they really are spelt differently) are particularly funny. I’m not even saying that famous actors shouldn’t provide the voices for animated characters. Toy Story wouldn’t be as brilliant as it is if Tom Hanks wasn’t Woody.

Where technology does disappear up its own hard-drive, though, is where the actors performing the mo-cap movements are A-list stars rather than anonymous nobodies. We nearly get to see Daniel Craig, but not quite. What could be more frustrating than that? The process even holds frustrations for the star himself. Filming required Craig to dress in a leotard and have a camera strapped to his head. “It’s Steven Spielberg,” he said, “so every f—er in the world comes to visit. Clint f—ing Eastwood comes to visit. It was just like, are you kidding me? I’m gonna meet these people dressed like this? Playing a pirate, wearing a leotard and a camera? Really?”

We’re with you, Daniel. You don’t want Clint to see you like that. We don’t want to be prevented from seeing you full stop. We certainly don’t want to imagine you in a leotard. Actually, given the opinions expressed by those women I mentioned, maybe some of them do.